© Gay Ann Rogers, 2008 -–2021
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Above is the map of how far Queendom Website has traveled,
nice for MacSoph and me, but doubly nice because it shows that needlework is indeed alive and well right round the world.
Audrey, Carolyn Elworthy and Leslie Durst in 2005 at EGA's one woman show of Audrey's work.
Website updated
December 6, 2021
Mail Jail
Mail Jail is over now: my December 5 deadline has come and gone and now I look forward to seeing some stitched Pumpkin Pies, Tudor Rose Squares and Peacock Squares. I realize American Silver Thimbles will take a while longer.
People have so enjoyed seeing Toni's Treasured Remembrance that I will make a point of posting more of your work if you send me photos as you finish. Thanks
From Toni K., Newly Finished
Toni just finished Treasured Remembrance. Treasured Remembrance is a sampler I designed to feature a cameo and Toni made it for her Mother-in-Law's cameo. Oops, where is that cameo? She's still hunting and in the meantime, her mother's cameo is in its place.
Scroll down for Toni's comments.
Jane Zimmerman, forever the opera fan, backstage with Placido Domingo.
From Toni, writing to me in an email:
"I enjoyed stitching Treasured Remembrance, plus I’m now a billion knot enthusiast. I learned to embrace the imperfections, I couldn’t get the left side to “match” the right side. It’s not exactly like your piece as some swirls and leaves were added and/or removed, Thank you for the confidence to be okay with that."
From me: thanks, Toni, and good for you! I have more to say about small imperfections here and there and I will write them tomorrow.....
December 6: On Perfection
Ah yes, perfect stitching. I'm not sure it is possible, I'm not at all convinced it is desirable.
When I first started collecting lace and whitework one of my main tasks was to learn to tell handmade from machine-made, and one of the primary differences between the two is perfection. Machine-made lace is abolutely consistent, there are never any deviations. The human hand always makes small irregularities.
Sometimes if you compare the two, the unrelentingly perfect consistency of the machine comes to look almost dead; it is often the tiny inconsistencies that bring life to handmade lace. At the heart of handmade lace lies the stitch I find the most difficult to do: buttonhole stitch. The issue isn't the progression of the stitch, it is easy enough to do. The difficulty is tension.
If you are an experienced stitcher, chances are good you will automatically rip out mistakes in stitch progression; you will also look for the way you fill an area and rip it if you don't like the compensation or the way a stitch sits. The more difficult evaluation is tension. When is your tension good enough and when should you rip? I have some basic guidelines and I will address them tomorrow. I also have a few ways to improve tension and I will write them too, probably in a day to two.
In the next few days I will write about perfect stitching.
Scroll down for my comments.